One person's 'scruffy woodland' is another's interesting wildlife site. Your idea of a 'dream garden' could be someone else's nightmare. Should that gnarly, broken-down, mis-shapen tree in Sherwood Forest called the Major Oak be cut down and replaced with a nice symmetrical cedar or flowering cherry? After all it's hundreds of years old and looks half dead. Oh, wait a minute, it was voted Britain's tree of the year!

In fact, further to what Bob says, I would cut the branch back in four or five increments from the top to make sure of not peeling the bark; it's quite a heavy branch to deal with in one go. Leave yourself about a foot of branch to take off with the final cut. Perhaps get someone else to support the branch while you concentrate on making the perfect cut! Also don't be tempted to do anything else to the tree until next winter - you're taking off half the tree as it is.

I use fairly basic ones like Spear and Jackson, Fiskars, Wilkinson Sword. Never paid more than £20 because I've never felt the need to (and I do lose them occasionally), but I've always got a spare or two in the van. I've a pair of Wilkinson that have just given up the ghost after 22 years.